


Strange and Mournful Day

by blcwriter



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Child Abuse, Dark, M/M, offscreen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-04-06 17:16:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4230174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blcwriter/pseuds/blcwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Inspired in an almost mirror-verse way by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9Nj5xLuT6c">Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion,"</a> and written as a submission for the Team Jones vote for Prompt 4 for "In the Doghouse,"  way back during Ship Wars.  For obvious reasons (downer!fic is a downer!), it didn't win or go on to the overall vote, and I never posted it here because it felt incomplete, in part because of the word count limit.  I've fleshed it out a bit here, and while it still feels incomplete, I just ended a hard, difficult visit with my own mother (that has nothing to do with the relationship I portray here between Winona and Jim) and I finally felt drawn to post this.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Strange and Mournful Day

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired in an almost mirror-verse way by [Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion,"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9Nj5xLuT6c) and written as a submission for the Team Jones vote for Prompt 4 for "In the Doghouse," way back during Ship Wars.  For obvious reasons (downer!fic is a downer!), it didn't win or go on to the overall vote, and I never posted it here because it felt incomplete, in part because of the word count limit. I've fleshed it out a bit here, and while it still feels incomplete, I just ended a hard, difficult visit with my own mother (that has nothing to do with the relationship I portray here between Winona and Jim) and I finally felt drawn to post this.

Author: [](http://blcwriter.livejournal.com/profile)[**blcwriter**](http://blcwriter.livejournal.com/)  
Title: Strange and Mournful Day  
Beta: [](http://eldritchhorrors.livejournal.com/profile)[**eldritchhorrors**](http://eldritchhorrors.livejournal.com/) [](http://hitlikehammers.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://hitlikehammers.livejournal.com/)**hitlikehammers**  
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 for language, issues of child abuse  
Disclaimer: I don't own Trek.

Author's Note: Inspired in an almost mirror-verse way by [Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion,"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9Nj5xLuT6c) and written as a submission for the Team Jones vote for Prompt 4 for "In the Doghouse," way back during Ship Wars.  For obvious reasons (downer!fic is a downer!), it didn't win or go on to the overall vote, and I never posted it here because it felt incomplete, in part because of the word count limit. I've fleshed it out a bit here, and while it still feels incomplete, I just ended a hard, difficult visit with my own mother (that has nothing to do with the relationship I portray here between Winona and Jim) and I finally felt drawn to post this.

I wanted to thank-- again and again and again-- eldritchhorrors and hitlikehammers for their help with the initial drafts of this fic. The more recent additions (and any faults and failures therein) are mine-- but I couldn't have gotten this written without them.

This fic is for anybody who does love their mom-- and yet doesn't know how to deal with her, either.

\--

He'd been trying to _help_ that sad puppy look in Jim's eyes when he got off the comm with Winona or Sam before he'd shake his head, smile, _not_ pour a drink and get back to work.

Those four were the last ones to board for _Enterprise's_ family weekend. Jim was greeting Scotty's grandparents while Leonard shook hands and cleared the shuttle to return to the Starbase. It was only when Jim turned around-- there was that flash of recognition and anger accumulated over the course of a lifetime, the way Jim held himself as he only did when there were enemies threatening his crew he was ready to kill-- Leonard had made a mistake.

"Mom," Jim said, stepping forward. "Sam," he continued, then "Aurelan," hugging the pretty, pregnant brunette. Cold as a glacier, he greeted the bear of a man with an affable smile that did not reach his eyes-- _that's_ where Jim learned that look. "Frank."

They processed to the decontam room. Jim, fingers nimble on the controls, mouth barely moving, said "you let Joanna within three meters of Frank and I will not be responsible for what happens."

He'd never come out and asked. Jim had never confessed-- it was one of his mysterious ways that Leonard hadn't dared press. He'd feared what might occur in the same way that a Southerner knew heat lightning could boil out of nowhere and strike you down dead. But the way Jim said "family" when he talked to the crew, how he talked to Winona and Sam since getting his ship-- the way he was with Joanna, treated her like God's honest treasure. Of course Jo loved him back. He'd just been trying to help.

Some of it must have shown on his face.

"You didn't know," Jim grimaced, pulling away before Leonard could grab his hand, offer some contact like he usually liked. "Come on. Let's get this clusterfuck on the road."

\--

Jo was staying with them-- always did-- but Leonard had arranged for Jim's family to stay three levels down with the rest of the guests. Jim saw them all to their quarters, even escorting Frank and Winona into their suite.

Frank whistled. "Jimmy, tryin' to impress us?"

The man's tone set Leonard's teeth way over the edge. Winona seemed not to notice, smiling instead as Jim smiled back and said "Not me, Frank, Bones arranged everything." He punched something into the replicator before an ice bucket appeared.

"Still take your gin and tonic, Frank, Mom, your Manhattan?" he asked, any bartender working for tips.

"That's right," Winona said as Frank gave a curt nod and sat. Leonard went over and poured himself a bare finger of scotch since it seemed like they were drinking, then watched Jim mix the drinks, deft hand with the bottles as ever he was. Jim had worked in a few dozen bars once he'd left home-- Leonard knew that much. What did Winona know?

The ice rattled in the glasses just slightly as Jim handed them over, then returned to the replicator to punch up some snacks. He placed them down on the table between them before he sat on the bench opposite his mother and Frank.

Leonard sat alongside and Frank arched an eyebrow at Jim. "You're not going to drink?"

Jim shook his head. "I have to swing by the bridge, Spock and I've got a quick conference with Admiral Pike."

Frank snorted. "Chris. He's a prick. Uppity sonofabitch." Frank was in charge of the Riverside Yard-- he was supposed to be a good Engineer. Jim said that much when he'd related the incident with the car.

Jim shook his head but said nothing. Winona seemed to have no opinion.

"Chris is a good friend, he recruited us both. Jim and I were thinking of having him do the honors if Jim ever lets me make an honest man out of him." If Jim ever forgave him, that is.

Frank opened his mouth, but Winona, ever the mother, turned pink with delight and practically bounced out of her chair. "A _wedding?_ Sam and Aurelan wouldn't let me help plan theirs. You know, Leonard, we have a big orchard in back of the house, it's just gorgeous in May when the blossoms are out ... "

"I haven't said yes," Jim interrupted, eyes burning. "Marrying starship captains is a high-risk occupation." His cheeks were as pink as his mother's, his mouth compressed flat. Leonard looked at Winona, then back at Jim.

The press-- 'Fleet PR people too-- always went on about how Jim resembled his Dad, but now that he'd seen Jim and his mother together? The heart-shaped face, full, luscious lips, the lean build, the clear, fire-blue eyes, the hair that couldn't decide if it was gold or sere brown. He took a sip of his drink. Looking back up, he caught Frank's expression-- and yes-- he too saw the resemblance. Winona was still a beautiful woman.

Leonard suddenly needed to puke. Jim met his eye-- then he nodded.

\--

"This is your daughter?" Aurelan asked. "She looks like she could be Jim's."

Uhura laughed-- it had been noted before, Leonard's predilection for blonds. Jo'd clambered into Jim's lap at supper and was telling him all about what they'd done that afternoon, her eyes sparkling and tow hair flying loose from her braid.

"Jimmy's hair was that color when he was little," Sam said with a grin. "That flyaway, too. Right before it'd rain, he was static personified."

"He did the braid," Leonard said. "I'm a doctor, not a hairdresser, I can't brush her hair without her crying her eyes out."

"Jim does a good job, but don't tell him I said so," Uhura chimed in. "Jo was climbing the trees in the Botany lab, it couldn't be helped that she got tousled."

"I hear nothing," Jim said, winking over the table. Winona laughed and Frank chewed his steak stolidly as Sam made conversation with Jo, then turned his attentions to Uhura's nephews and nieces. The kids were as fierce as their comms officer was and Jim spent half his time declaring his love to the girls, at least when he wasn't letting the little boys ride him like he was a pony.

Jim got on with all the visiting kids-- so did his brother. They couldn't talk about anything else without stumbling, but give them other kids as a focus and they were seamless-- they'd played the clowns the whole weekend. They kept their distance from Frank, and Sam always sat or stood between his wife and stepfather. They danced an odd, formal attendance on Winona, their conversations polite, strictly 'Fleet business and inquiries about her research. Neither son discussed anything really personal beyond the usual small talk-- nor, that Leonard had seen, had she asked.

What false hope Leonard had had, thinking that this would be a family reunion for Jim. Every time he'd reached out to Jim when they'd been in private, his touches and "darlin's" had been rebuffed by the knife's-edge look in Jim's eye and his calm, careful "Don't." That and the way he had one eye glued to some monitor that scrolled on his PADD the whole time.

"These're comm badges Jim gave us all so we don't fall down a Jeffries tube an' get lost," Joanna told Frank in response to some question about the pin attached to her shirt. "Not that I would, I've been on _Enterprise_ _lots_ and I know how to use the computers, but it's important to follow the rules so we all stay safe and sound." Her head swiveled up even as she snaked her arms around Jim's neck and planted a kiss on his cheek-- utterly trusting. Leonard's heart burst even as his guts churned when Frank started laughing.

"Never thought I'd live to hear that. Never thought Jimmy would, either."

Sam gave Jim a look, one Jim gave Sam right back-- basset hounds, fucking woeful. Leonard cleared his throat. "Well, some rules are meant to be broken, some rules just aren't. But it's Jim's ship and Jim's rules. We all follow, whether or not you're surprised."

Winona flushed red. "Well, Leonard, according to Frank, Jimmy was a bit of a rule-breaker when he was little. George, too."

Jim hadn't done a thing to react-- but Joanna had snaked her arms more surely around Jim's neck as she glared over the table at Frank. Uhura blinked, Spock looked impassive, and the five nieces and nephews all watched Jo and Jim while Sam looked at Winona and wore the same resigned smile his father had in the vids right before the black box recordings went blank and the _Kelvin_ went up in a fiery mess. Aurelan just looked confused.

Leonard ground his teeth. Damn these closed-mouth Kirk boys.

"Well, ma'am, I'm not sorry if this sounds kind of rude, but Jim's not a liar. Sam isn't one either. And it would never occur to me to disbelieve my own child." The round banquet table placed Jim and Jo just over three meters' distance from Frank. "If you'll excuse us, we're going to put Jo to bed."

Winona blinked, ears and neck flushing red the same way Jim's did when he was angry. Sam and Aurelan excused themselves as he and Jim stood and Jo slid off Jim's lap. And while Jim didn't smile, he didn't pull away when Leonard carefully-- so fucking carefully-- rested his hand for just a few moments on Jim's in the lift where it rested on top of Jo's hair.

\--

The shuttle bay was a morass of beings-- it reminded Leonard no less of the day when they'd all taken off for the _Narada_. He hadn't been a practicing Catholic in years, but he still crossed himself at the remembrance. So many things they'd lost and nearly lost on that day.

"Lenny? Have you seen Corinne?" Only Christine.

"I haven't, darlin'. When was the last time you saw her?"

Christine shook her head. "She was talking to Jim's mother and father at breakfast, Karen and Tim were with them, but Karen hasn't seen her for five minutes."

Fifteen strides over to Jim, standing at _Galileo_ with Sam, Aurelan and Winona.

"Corinne Chapel is missing." Blonde, pretty, six fucking years old.

"How long?" Jim looked at his PADD, punched the screen in the corner up to full resolution, narrowed in on one particular dot. When had he tagged _Frank_?

"Five minutes."

He ducked into the shuttle, came out with a phaser. After a second, Sam did the same. Winona started to tremble. She said "Jimmy, you should call Frank. He'll help you look."

Jim shook his head. "You still don't want to get it. I feel sorry for you." Shouting "Out of the way!" in that clear captain's bark that never failed to make people scramble, he started to run.

Leonard followed. What else could he do?

\--

"Bones, stop. You're scaring Corinne."

That got through. His fist came to a rest with a meaty squish in Frank's cheek.

He shook himself like a dog-- shook off the urge to tear out the man's throat. He'd never lunged for someone like that before, but he'd seen pictures this weekend of a serious-faced Jim when he was little. Instead of the crying but unharmed Corinne he'd been laid low by the thought of a small Jim, towheaded like Jo. He'd sent the huge Frank flat to the deck-- then grabbed him by his uniform collar and kept hitting until Jim called him back to his senses.

"She's okay?" Sam had the little girl tucked into his shoulder. He nodded.

Jim nodded too, his eyes wide. "She's fine. Everyone's fine."

"Are you sure?"

Jim pulled him away, inspecting Leonard's split knuckles before kissing them gently.

"Well, no, but you can't space him either." Jim looked at the airlock six meters away, then looked back at Bones, looked him straight in the eyes for the first time in days.

Sam giggled, then stuffed it down. Leonard swallowed puke all over again.

After Security came, they headed back toward the shuttles. Sam held Corinne as if letting her go meant he might fly away. Leonard knew Sam was a kid when he left Jim with Frank all those years ago-- he still wanted to punch him, although, well-- hadn't Leonard done his own running when Jo'd needed him for a while?

"What're we going to tell Mom?" Sam murmured.

Leonard inhaled. Spoke. "I'll talk to your mother."

Jim's fingers threaded through his-- squeezed split knuckles on swollen fingers. It hurt like a sonofabitch-- but that was okay. That skin was the least of the wounds that needed attention.

He squeezed Jim's fingers back, jerked his chin back toward where they'd come from, and said-- "Come on, guys. And if she thinks we're going to let it be this time..."

Jim shook his head. "Not on my ship. Not anymore."

Sam swallowed and nodded, patted Corrinne's head, and followed. He didn't answer aloud, but Winona's face when she met them at the front of the hangar made clear-- she wouldn't understand for a while, but she might be ready to finally listen.  



End file.
